1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a warehousing system, more particularly to a warehousing system for transferring articles between two levels of a multistory building.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that a conventional warehousing system comprises a building, a plurality of rack members stacked in the building, and a conveying device for transferring articles to and from the rack members. The conveying device has a holding mechanism, an elevator mechanism that cooperates with the holding mechanism, and transportation rails disposed on a floor of the building so that the holding mechanism can move thereon. Articles can be held by the holding mechanism and can be transferred to one of the rack members from an entrance of the building via the transportation rails. Then, the articles can be raised and lowered to a specific level of one of the rack members by the elevator mechanism.
Such a conventional warehousing system suffers from the following disadvantages:
1. The holding mechanism can not pick up the articles stored in different levels of the building.
2. When it is desired to convey the articles between two different levels, additional lifts or conveyors are required. Therefore, the storage space in the building is reduced due to the installation of the additional elevators or conveyors in the building.
3. The articles are transferred among the rack members via the transportation rails. As such, the available area on the floor of the building is limited.